Armenian participation in the World Chess Championship ended in the quarter final with the defeat of Vladimir Hakobyan by the English grandmaster Michael Adams.

Hakobyan (rating 2,689) was the last of seven Armenians participating to go out of the championships in Tripoli, Libya. His run ended as a result of losing two matches to Adams, rated the sixth best chess player in the world.

Hakobyan beat four opponents on the road to the quarter finals. In the first round he defeated by 1.5–0.5 the Mexican player Jose Gonzalez Garcia, then followed this result with wins by the same score over Utut Adianto from Indonesia and Alexander Moiseenko from Ukraine.

The best current Armenian grandmaster left no opportunities for the Polish chess player Michal Krasenkow, beating him with a score again of 1.5-0.5.

The other six Armenians were not as successful, with the best results recorded by two who went out in the third round of the knock-out competition.

Levon Aronyan ended on the losing side in a very hard seven-match series against Pavel Smirnov from Russia by 4-3. Aronyan (rating 2,645) secured his first round victory over Carlsen Magnus from Norway by 2.5 – 1.5 (three draws and one win) then easily defeated Azerbaijan’s Gadir Guseinov by 2-0.

Ashot Anastasyan (rating 2,587) went out to Alexander Beliavski of Slovenia by 1.5-0.5 in the third round. He had beaten Bu Xiangzhi from China by 1.5-0.5 in the first round followed with a win over the Indian chess player Das Neelotpal by 2.5 – 1.5 (three draws and one victory).

A priest blesses a bowl of Armenian apricots prior to the opening of
the Golden Apricot International Film Festival in Yerevan on June 30. The fruit was handed out to guests at the opening ceremony at the city's Moscow Cinema.